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Events
First Gibraltar Day in Tel Aviv
By Eran Shay, President, Gibraltar-Israel Chamber of Commerce (Gibrael)
Gibrael, together with the Gibraltar Finance Centre held an historic first Gibraltar Day event in Tel Aviv in October. Israel is known as the Start-up Nation and the source of many innovative technologies, and Israeli businesses have been instrumental in the evolvement of Gibraltar's economy for several decades, be it in online gambling, private clients, funds and more recently in the fintech and blockchain sectors.
Gibrael's chairwoman, Ayelet Mamo commented: "It all started when I presented the idea of doing a Gibraltar Day in Tel Aviv to Minister of Commerce, Albert Isola. Gibraltar Days had already proved successful in London, Zurich, Singapore and Hong Kong, and I thought it is a must to bring this event to Tel Aviv. Mr Isola and his team, including Paul Astengo, were very enthusiastic about the idea and so we put the wheels in motion."
Indeed according to Minister Isola such an event has been "long overdue".
The Gibraltar Day events attracted hundreds of Israeli business people to the busy conference day, with panels featuring no less than 24 top speakers.
This was followed by an exclusive business networking lunch which was completely over-subscribed, and by
B2B meetings. The evening lavish cocktail reception
was hosted by Minister Albert Isola.
Tel Aviv's financial district
The events were held at the prestigious Crowne Plaza Azrieli Centre hotel in the heart of Tel Aviv's financial district. "It seems that the buzz about Gibraltar was all over Israel. Business people were flocking to the event from all corners of the country and we had to put people on waiting lists as the demand completely exceeded capacity" said Gibrael president Eran Shay.
The conference focused on the cryptocurrencies and blockchain sector
which is of particular interest to Israel's many spurring blockchain start-ups, due to Gibraltar's pioneering position in this market given its DLT regulatory framework and upcoming token issuance regulations. Indeed, the first ICO in Gibraltar was done by an Israeli company, and Gibrael estimates that about 25% of total DLT licence applications are by Israeli owned companies; so it was not surprising to see some of the top names in the blockchain sector amongst the speakers, including professionals from Israel’s biggest blockchain investment group – Alignment- Singulariteam Group, Israel’s biggest crypto exchange - Bit2C, Deloitte, Meitar, Shine, and the Israeli Bitcoin Association, as well as dignitaries from the Israeli Ministry of Economy.
From the Gibraltar side, there were
plenty of companies present, including some of the sponsors of the event such as Hassans, Isolas, Continent 8, Sovereign, Rockolo, Gibtelecom, Ramparts, Benefit Business Solutions, Sodi-Connect, and the GSX/GBX Group.
HiTech park
The Gibraltar Day events were complemented by a business delegation headed by Gibrael, who visited the cities of Haifa and Jerusalem. In Haifa - home to Israel’s largest HiTech park, the delegates visited the offices of one of Israel’s leading fintech law firms - Doron Tikotzky Kantor, and then visited MATI – one of the city’s key
technology accelerators. This was followed by a lunch at the Haifa City Hall where they met with several city councillors.
In Jerusalem, the delegation visited the offices of Yigal Arnon & Co, one of Israel’s largest law firms, followed by a tour of the Israeli Parliament (the Knesset) and a meeting with the Jerusalem Chamber of Commerce. They then visited some of the world
renown holy sites in the Old City. The delegates were amazed by the Israeli Hi Tech ecosystem and business community and vowed to come back to Israel in the near future.
The Gibraltar Day in Tel Aviv was the biggest ever gathering of Gibraltar businesses in Israel and is set to become a regular fixture in the Gibraltar business annual calendar.
www.gibrael.org
26 Gibraltar International
www.gibraltarinternational.com
The Gibraltar business delegation